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When I bought my excel in February 1999 it was only a couple of weeks before some one sidles up and says I know where there is one of them in a garage!

Hey presto one month later I own an eclat as well, sadly I didn't have a garage to keep her in and she has suffered. After years of not doing anything with her and her body was starting to degrade even though a couple of years ago I did sling a top notch chassis and running gear under her from a stalled rebuild, however I have kept the original chassis as she has her original pretty much every thing else so may be she may have it put back under her at some point?

Well last week the retaliation came home: she either needs the body stabilising and making weather proof and a layer of paint would not go amiss either or she needs to be sold to some one who will. I dont want to sell her, so a friend has a body guy who works for him, I have stripped the car down and it will now go to them as an infill job to be done when they do not have much else. It may take some but when I get her back at least she will no longer be degrading.

A Little about the car. A 1975 Oct car, built in Sept 1975 which has covered 73000.

While she is away I need to finish putting my freinds 78 Eclat back on the road, get my Excel ready for her test and help my 17 year old finish his Spitfire project.

However LAH is 40 on the 1st of Oct this year, lets see if we can put her back on the road for the first time in 24 years for the old girls birthday?

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So I think I have made the right decision but I thought I would ask on the forum anyway?

and B it makes a funny story too.

When my mate said he would spray my eclat at reduced cost as a favor I thought yipee, however his spray guy who looks a little like "hair" out of the "hair bear bunch" is a character to say the least.

So I ask 2can you spray the car signal red?2 yes is the reply. It's original colour was signal read as she is an early and pretty original old car so I though stick to signal red.

So "Hair" starts his work bolsters up the seams rubs the car down and sprays it all up. The car comes back to me and by golly its red!! so I say" is that signal red?" Stuart my friend says "you asked for signal red, I told "hair" signal red, and thats the colour it is"

But by golly its Red!

Well today wanders down a lad from our local paint shop for an MOT, nice guy and he starts to chat with my wife and sister about my lotus and about what a character "Hair" is. Well it transpires that "Hair painted it signal red and it was not red enough, so of he pops to the paint shop and asks for a red red and paints the car with loads of coats of this redder red.

well do I go of my trolly? well no its done now and the car looks splendid in this new Warren Red (Warren being Hairs real name).

Have I done right, lets have your opinions about what happened at the WONDERLAND ZOO where there are certain bears, who stay up every night and spray eclats really BRIGHT.

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Seats condition before they went of to PF auto in Longton, Stoke on Trent.

When they come back in August/September the light brown vinyl and beige bedford cord will be gone from the seats and door cards and the dash will no longer be black vinyl. The seats are going to be standard grain County brown leather outers with the center in (dare I say it) Ferrari beige perforated leather. The dash will be clad in black standard grain leather and the carpet it staying a very seventies brown carpet.

I have arranged for a window guy to come and refit the windows and now I need to secure him a fresh windscreen from Lbits (along with a fresh N/S door beam) and all the relevant clips and trim retainers from SJ with new headlining material all the ingredients are there for a spiffing interior.

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Its been six weeks since I last posted, during that time there has been fits and starts of progress on the car.

Things done.

1. I have moved the engine into the conservatory and removed the cylinder head to replace the gasket as a precaution after standing for 24 years and everything else will also be examined for serviceability or changed as a precaution like seals and gaskets. my good lady wife really did not like the smell of that!

2. I applied for the certificate of provenance from Andy Graham the archivist at Lotus (well worth the money in my opinion).

I have now learned that the first Eclat on to the production line was chassis number 100, my car is chassis number is 99 and that my car is a preproduction car and although she was first registered in Oct 75 her life started a bit earlier than this when she was signed over to the publicity department.

3. Reader of this will have read the amusing story of Warren and the colours, well the certificate from lotus says she started life as carnival red: so another colour change has taken place to the correct colour. and the rebuild is underway resistance checking all the electrics and removing bodges from the past, fitting new main feed cables, with cables to the boot for a supplementary battery and the radiator has been away for flow test and pressure test and will be refitted next week. The bonnet, pods and boot have been bolted into place to stop me tripping over them.

Up next big bills from most of the Lotus suppliers and much more rebuilding.